


The Boy I Used To Know

by 36degreecelcius



Category: HISTORY(히스토리), Sikyun - Fandom
Genre: HISTORY(히스토리) - Freeform, Hisstory, Kim Jaeho - Freeform, Kim Sihyoung - Freeform, M/M, Na Dokyun - Freeform, Sikyun - Freeform, Yang Yijeong - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 16:06:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6963619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/36degreecelcius/pseuds/36degreecelcius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sihyoung was one of the regular customers at a nightclub where Dokyun worked as the club master. The two discovered they had the same taste for music.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Boy I Used To Know

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my native, so I'm sorry in advance for any mistakes :D

For Kim Sihyoung, it was the dimness of his favorite nightclub’s spotlight that made him fully awake. As a businessman, whose daily routine was to read through endless tons of papers and sit mostly aimlessly in meetings, Sihyoung felt daytime was unbearably exhausting, and nighttime had become the only time he could feel like enjoying life again.

The young man had actually been visiting several different nightclubs during the passed year or two; after he’d become remarkably successful in his career he’d found himself getting increasingly tired of the business world, and started going from one club to another to keep himself relaxed and refreshed. It took him a month before he eventually discovered this particular place, namely ‘Le Papillon,’ where he’d found himself most comfortable in. The club had an adult-like, calm atmosphere, with dark blueish furnitures and decorations that gave the impression as if the place was built under the ocean, and that worked well with the soft, comforting smell of lavender-scented air refresher. The jazz music they often played, which is Sihyoung’s personal favorite music genre, along with the nicely mixed cocktail drinks, had kept him at peace every time he’d visited the place. Le Papillon was not large in size, thus the regular customers, or most of them, to Sihyoung’s observation, were rather those who were there to find individual silence and relax; conversations between customers occurred only occasionally, and the place had almost never been noisy or crowded, which was one of the reasons he particularly liked being there.

The only occurrence one would find Le Papillon’s tables fully occupied, however, was when the club’s master, Na Dokyun, hold a live concert. Once, or sometimes twice a week, Mr. Na would invite artists who, in fact, were some of his friends from when he was studying music at the university, to perform a small jazz session at his club from around eight to ten in the evening. During the concert, not only one could request particular musical pieces, which sometimes couldn’t be found recorded else where, but what made it so special was that Mr. Na would also join the performance. The club master himself, Sihyoung had learned some time later, had majored in singing at his university and he’d been playing piano as a hobby since he was little, which made him a big fan of jazz and classical songs. All of the customers, especially the regular ones, had loved Na Dokyun’s performances, and would be more than willing to stay at Le Papillon until the concert ended. His voice was powerful, but at the same time possessed the soothing quality that could always capture his audience’ attention and put them under his spell.

…It was the most important reason Sihyoung had liked the club so much.

—

 _Seven thirty_ , Na Dokyun took a quick glance at the beautiful, wooden clock on his right, while pouring some bright blue substance into his cocktail mix, _gotta hope Jaeho and Yijeong aren’t gonna be late today._

For the club master, punctuality had become something rather crucial ever since he’d decided to hold a live concert. Despite his often-used humble self comments such as, “oh, it’s not that good, we’re just average musicians,” or “thank you for liking our songs, but we still need to improve,” Dokyun knew that the audience really liked what’s being played in front of them, and were willing to stay up late until he’d finished playing the last song, even though a lot of them were doctors, businessmen, or teachers, whose career started early in the morning. That was why, at some point, he decided to be a bit more strict on the concert’s schedules, so that he wouldn’t be keeping his audience for too-unnecessarily-long, and fortunately, most of his friends had understood his reasons and tried their best to be on time.

But these two, Kim Jaeho and Jang Yijeong, however, were exceptions; living quite faraway, and both weren’t known for being punctual since they were studying at the university. So after Dokyun had realized none of his classmates was free this week, and the two had agreed to come join the concert for this evening, he had been a bit worried whether these two close friends of his could make it in time.

His facial expression must’ve been serious it caught one of his customers’ attention. After he’d finished mixing the drink and handed it to him, the other pointed it out.

“You look a bit serious today, Mr. Na,” he smiled, “something bothering you?”

If Dokyun remembered it right, he was a young businessman who came here often and was one of the regular audience of his live concert. _Kim Sihyoung?_ He was quite sure he got the other’s name correct.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he replied, smiling back, “just a little worried about the time.”

“The time? Oh, the concert’s schedule, I see,” the younger nodded, “waiting for your friends?”

“Yeah,” he responded, cleaning a nice-looking cocktail glass with a small piece of cloth, “ideally, they should be here by now.”

The younger man glanced at the clock, “but you still got twenty minutes left, no need to be too worried.”

“I know,” he admitted, “but still.” Dokyun turned his head towards the club’s front door; still no sign of the pair.

“…You know, I’ve been wanting to say that I really respect your concern about punctuality,” said Sihyoung, looking at him directly and respectfully, “you always manage to keep the schedule strict, no matter what. I really wish people at my office were half as punctual.” He chuckled, probably thinking back to his work place, before taking a sip from his drink. “Wow, this is very good.”

“Thank you,” Dokyun responded to both the compliments, feeling a bit flattered. “It’s called Moody Blue. I learned it a couple of days ago, glad you like it.”

“It’s amazing,” said the younger. His dark, charming eyes observed the cocktail’s bright blue color, looking equally amazed and interested, which kind of reminded Dokyun of an excited child.

“Oh,” he looked up after a short moment, “I totally forgot to introduce myself, I’m-”

“Kim Sihyoung. I remember.” Dokyun interrupted, earning himself a surprised look. “I think we talked once when you first came here, though. I always manage to remember most of the customers’ names after a conversation or two, somehow,” he chuckled at himself. It’s become one of his habits after he’d established Le Papillon to remember the customers’ names, especially the regular ones. For him, socializing was considered as important as making good cocktail drinks.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that,” the other looked amazed. “That’s very considerate of you.”

“A bartender’s habit, I’d say,” he smiled, “plus you’re one of the regular customers. I seem to have gotten used to seeing some people’s face around here, and apparently you’ve become one of those.”

The younger giggled, “I didn’t realize I’ve come here that frequently,” another sip from his drink, “but this place really is relaxing and refreshing, I give you that. Also you got some really good jazz tracks, I love them.”

“I figured,” Dokyun gave the other an I-knew-it smile, “do you have any favorite artists?”

Sihyoung almost laughed, “you want me to start? Well…”

…By the time Jaeho and Yijeong rushed into the club, which was around five-to-eight, Dokyun and Sihyoung were already discussing about how they became a fan of jazz, how they like different kinds of instruments, and about their musical backgrounds. It occurred, to Dokyun’s surprise, that he was a lot more talkative than he’d thought. Whether it’s because it’s been a while since he’d met someone who had the same taste for music, or because he hadn’t had someone, who wasn’t one of his classmates, to discuss about musical matters for a very long time, the club master found the young businessman very interesting. He told the other about a number of his favorite musicians, whom he’d studied their styles and techniques at the university and that he really wanted to become one of them some day, to which the younger strongly agreed and assured him he surely could.

Sihyoung told him he used to play piano when he was younger, and that he actually wanted to major in music back when he was in high school. “…There was this one place I really wanted to get in,” he said, “so when I was in high school, I used to go practice alone in the music room. Though, eventually my parents insisted I take after their business, so I wasn’t able to play it ever since.” He chuckled, but his face saddened a little at the last sentence.

“Oh,” Dokyun slowly nodded, feeling bad for the younger. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“No, no, it’s not a big deal anymore,” he laughed, “now that I have my own place, my own business, I can now play it again, so I’m happy.”

The taller man smiled, “that’s good.”

There was a short moment of silence between the two, both were letting the stories and discussions to sink in, though it didn’t last for too long before a thought flashed into Dokyun’s mind.

“…You know, you kinda remind me of a person I used to know.”

“Oh?”

“Well, I mean I didn’t know him in person, but there was this one kid who…”

But before he could go any further, there was a loud noise of the club’s front door being swung-opened, and Jaeho dashed in with a “Dokyun, we’re here!” followed by Yijeong who was trying to tell his friend to calm down, and apparently failed to. Their sudden appearance caused some of the customers to turn to their direction, with either curious or disturbed looks on their faces.

“…Oops.” Jaeho seemed to just realized what he’d just done, and did an ‘I’m sorry’ bow to as many directions as he could.

“Jaeho, Yijeong, finally!” Dokyun let out a long sigh of relief, bowing to the customers to apologize for his friends’ abrupt entrance, “get yourselves ready ASAP, we’ll be performing in five minutes.” The club master turned to Sihyoung, who apparently was still into what he was going to narrate, but at the same time excited. “Please excuse me,” he said, “I’ll tell you the rest of the story next time.”

“No worries,” the young businessman replied with a smile, “as much as I wanna hear it, I’d gladly like to listen to your live performance as well.”

—

Sihyoung let the music take him.

Sitting at the table not too far away from where the three were performing, the young businessman closed his eyes, imagining himself lying in the calm, stable stream of the ocean, the sound of the piano and the bass joined in harmony like the sound of the wind, and the added percussions felt like the constant touch of the ocean waves, and Dokyun’s soft, soothing voice made his heart warm like the morning sunlight.

He, like every time he’d come to Le Papillon for the concert, listened very carefully to each every song that was played, trying to spot any personal techniques and small details that both Mr. Na and his friends had added, making those beautiful, musical pieces even better and more unique. And when he opened his eyes at the end of the second last song, his gaze was locked with Dokyun’s facial expressions. The calm excitement that was shown on the club master’s face had helped reminding how much music meant to him, and how good it felt back then, when he was still able to enjoy it as a pianist, not an audience.

“The last song for today,” Dokyun’s voice brought him back from his memories, “is my personal favorite; Can’t Help Falling In Love.”  
Sihyoung raised his brows in short surprise.

Oh, Mr. Na didn’t bring him back from his memories, but took him even further into it.

The song was the one he used to play, alone in the old music room, back when he was in high school.

—

Dokyun took a quick glance at the younger man, and was particularly interested by what Sihyoung was doing.

In sync with the sound from the piano, the other’s fingers were pressing against the table, trilling, playing the notes, as if there was another instrument in the room. His expressions was so passionate Dokyun thought for a second it was the younger who was performing, not him.

But most importantly, Sihyoung’s actions reminded him of the story he was about to speak of.

_…There was this one kid who used to go practice piano at the music room every evening. He wasn’t that good the first days I’d seen him playing, but he got better through times. There was this one song he played really, really well, and very passionately. It was ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love.’_

—

A few days later, Sihyoung found himself standing in front of the International Jazz Exhibition, waiting for Mr. Na to come meet him.

After the concert, the two talked a little bit more about the songs and the overall performance. Mr. Na had asked him what he thought, to which he replied without hesitation that it was fantastic, and added compliments on the techniques the three performers had managed into the songs. The club master gave him an impressed look, saying that he really appreciated the compliment, and that it had been a while since someone’d recognized such details.

He’d also asked if Sihyoung was free this week. “The university I studied at will be holding an exhibition for a week,” he said, “it’s an International Jazz Exhibition. I was planning to go there with my friends, y’know, just to get ourselves some old feelings, but I figured you might be interested.”

…Of course he said yes, although the younger felt a bit odd that their friendship was developing quite fast…not that it was bad, but he just wasn’t familiar with becoming close to someone this quickly.

Mr. Na arrived precisely at ten o’clock, waving at him from the distance while walking across the field towards where he was standing. “You’re early,” the older greeted, “did I make you wait for too long?”

“No, not at all,” Sihyoung replied, feeling a bit nervous; he wasn’t quite used to hanging out with friends either. “I’m just used to waking up early in the morning. People expect business to come first, not health.”

Dokyun chuckled, “well, here’s your chance to take a break, for your health,” then turned towards the building, “so, shall we?”

The exhibition was on the 5th floor which, according to Dokyun, was specifically for the singing majored students, and thus was where he’d spent most of his university life at. It was almost completely in white, except for the mahogany brown, wooden floor and the velvet red sofas, which looked very decent in this environment. There was also a faint, weird smell in the air that Dokyun suspected was because they’d just repainted the wall, “the place has changed a bit since I left,” he commented, looking a bit surprised.

The two went from rooms to rooms, each of them were decorated with different themes, depending on their contents, but would always have one jazz-related musical instrument exhibited at the center. Dokyun told him that these instruments were believed they’d been here since the very first years the faculty was established, and were to be kept untouched, so being able to take a close-up look was new to him as well. The two tried their best to observe each every item, and because, fortunately, there weren’t many people there since it was still early, the pair was able to take extra time to look at these ancient objects, and even Dokyun was surprised about the small details they’d discovered.

Throughout their walk, Sihyoung couldn’t help but be fascinated. He took interest in almost every thing shown in front of him, whether they were historical, contemporary, antique, classic, or modern objects, and through time, his nervousness was turned into excitement, and he felt more comfortable having Dokyun around, explaining to him extra interesting details. For Sihyoung, it felt as if he’d just entered the world he’d longed for, but hadn’t had any chance to experience.

Time passed as quickly as a blink, both men didn’t realize they’d just spent almost two hours walking around, observing different contents and items, and discussed about their significance and historical background. Eventually, the two arrived at the last room of the exhibition, which was themed ‘Piano and the Jazz Industry.’

All of the sudden, Dokyun called the younger. “Sihyoung, remember that day I, Yijeong, and Jaeho played ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’?”

Sihyoung, who was paying his attention to a small, ancient piano model exhibited nearby, answered with a bit of confusion, “yeah?”

“I spotted you trilling your fingers on the table, were you…imagining yourself playing piano?”

“Oh,” the businessman took a short moment to recall what he’d done that day, and felt a sudden embarrassment crawling up his cheeks, “…I guess I was,” followed by a chuckle at himself.

Dokyun smiled, “no, no, it wasn’t a thing to be shy about,” and gave the other a reassuring look. “So you used to play the song often?”

“Yeah,” the younger nodded, “remember I told you about practicing alone in school’s music room? That was the song I intended to use for the entrance exam.”

Without Sihyoung’s notice, Dokyun raised his eyebrow, a surprised look on his face.

“…You practiced, alone, every evening?”

“That’s right.”

“…With the grand, wooden piano?”

“Yeah…wait how do you know…?”

“…Which year were you in again?”

“Um…around eleventh grade? Why?”

The club master went silent for a short moment, locking his gaze directly at Kim Sihyoung, who was now turning his direction, question marks shown all over his face. _So it was him._

“Remember the story I was about to tell you that day?” He finally replied, “about the kid I used to know?”

Sihyoung was a bit confused at the sudden change of the topic, but nodded, “of course I do. You promised to tell me the rest the next time we meet.”

“Yes,” the club master walked towards the younger, and both stood in front of the grand, old piano exhibited at the center of the room, “so, here’s what happened:

_“…There was this one kid who used to go practice alone at the music room every evening. I was packing up my stuff, ready to go home, when I heard someone playing the piano. I got curious so I decided to go check it out, took me a while to find the place, but I finally found it, and him, alone in the music room with piles of sheet notes. I had no idea who he was, but I guess he was around a year younger. After that, I heard this kid’s piano almost every day; he wasn’t that good the first times, but he got better and better, and I, too, got used to hearing him playing. One day I spotted him walking into the music room, so I decided to drop by to take a quick listen, turned out I’d stayed there until late in the evening because he was so, so good. There was this one song he’d played really, really well, and very passionately, and it was so beautiful I couldn’t stop listening to…”_

Dokyun took a little pause, looking directly at Sihyoung, “…it was ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love.’

—

“So…” Sihyoung began, after they’d exited the exhibition and stopped by a nicely decorated café to find something to eat, and somewhere to sit, “…so we were in the same high school.”

Dokyun almost bursted out laughing, “that’s one way to put it.” He took a sip from his latte, “but you’re moved out, right? I hadn’t heard you practicing since like, the second half of the semester?”

“Well, that’s not exactly the case,” he tilted his head, thinking back, “I was still there, actually, but my parents put me in a special program they’d paid the teachers to do.”

“What program?”

“Basically refraining me from doing anything that involves the word ‘playing,’” Sihyoung explained, “let it be playing with friends, playing sports, playing musical instruments…oh, except playing chess, they said it’d help me develop my strategic analytical skills.”

“Wow…” Dokyun was stunned, “that’s extreme.”

“It was, and I also had to take homeschool,” the younger added, the let out a sigh, “that’s why I hadn’t been able to play piano since then.”

“That’s…” he didn’t know what to say, “I feel sorry for you.”

“Don’t worry,” Sihyoung assured him, “like I said, it’s not a big deal anymore.”

“…”

“…Plus, you just showed to me what’s it like majoring in music,” the businessman turned towards the tall, white building they just exited, then to Dokyun, “thank you so much.”

“You’re very welcome,” he replied with a smile, taking another sip.

The two went silent. Dokyun was in his own thoughts; observing the younger, the club master thought back to Sihyoung’s piano playing, and couldn’t help himself but getting upset at the other’s parents, for wasting such talent and forced their son to walk the path he didn’t want to.

Then an idea popped up in his head. “Hey, what about you perform with me next week.”

Sihyoung almost spit his drink, “what??”

“I said, I think you can perform with me next week,” he replied, laughing at the other who was suddenly looking very nervous. “Just that song, Can’t Help Falling In Love, and don’t worry, I’ll be singing. You just take care of the piano.”

“No, that’s not the point, I mean…” The so-called businessman was now turned into a troubled kid, which made Dokyun laughed even more. “…I haven’t played it for like, five years? How am I suppose to PERFORM?”

“Well,” Dokyun thought for a second, “how about we practice together this weekend? I’m free all-day.”

“But…” Sihyoung protested, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to play it well…”

“Come on, Kim Sihyoung, give your true self a chance to shine,” the older insisted, “and I’ll be there, no worries.”

“Um…” the younger hesitated, but finally he mumbled an unsure “…okay,” with a slight nod.

“It’s settled then,” Dokyun concluded, smiling happily. “Hey, it’s near the time I get back to the club, wanna stop by for another drink?”

“Uh…I think I’ll be going home today,” Sihyoung replied quickly, still looking a bit nervous.

“Okay, I’ll see you later, then.” said the older, chuckling, before paying their bills and walked out of the café. Sihyoung watched the club master slowly disappearing from his sight, thinking forward to what he would be doing this weekend, and what awaited him next week.


End file.
